The Rowing Briefing – 22nd March 2021

Welcome to the rowing world’s only regular news briefing. On this page you’ll find the latest rowing news from both the UK, as well as the rest of the globe. To receive an audio briefing with these stories and more at the start of each week, sign up to Updates. If you have a story to share, contact our news desk – juniorrowingnews@gmail.com.

British Rowing:

“…the Junior Inter-Regional Regatta (JIRR) will not be able to run as initially scheduled on 24 April.”

British Rowing Press Release

In a fitting set of circumstances, welcome to the UN’s World Water Day! It’s been a quiet week in the rowing world, with nothing more than whispers of what’s to come over the summer racing season…

British Rowing has launched an online survey to canvas opinion on the rescheduling of the Junior Inter-Regional Regatta. The event, initially intended to run on the 24th April, could be run later during the summer or autumn; British Rowing stress that in the wake of years of cancellations – not to mention the disruption caused by Covid-19 – they’re keen to get the JIRR group of athletes back into competition. The survey closes on the 26th March and can be found here

The governing body has also announced its intention to run the British Rowing Masters Championships on the 12th June, covid restrictions permitting. Chris Anton, Chair of the British Rowing Masters Championships Organising Committee, commented, “We are delighted to be able to confirm our intention to run this year’s championships. The event will provide a welcome opportunity for Masters rowers to return to multi-lane racing after the pandemic.”

More information as to the precise format of the event will be available once the exact restrictions surrounding competitive sport at that time are understood.

International Rowing:

“World Rowing… has decided to partner with the ITA for an independent clean sport program run by our experts.”

ITA Director General, Benjamin Cohen

World Rowing (formerly FISA) has partnered with The International Testing Agency for Anti-Doping. The move will see the ITA manage the entire In- and Out-of-Competition testing activities, including risk assessment, test distribution planning, and the administration of the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) and athlete whereabouts. The ITA will also take over the administration of the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) and the Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) for rowers.

Results management of potential anti-doping rule violations will also be handled by the ITA on behalf of World Rowing, as well as investigations and the gathering of intelligence to uncover doping through relevant information. The ITA will develop and implement a long-term storage and re-analysis strategy for the federation.
The contract will initially last for four years and is designed to improve the rigour of World Rowing’s anti-doping development and implementation of relevant policy.


This article supplements our Weekly Briefing that you can have delivered to your WhatsApp inbox at the start of each week. To find out more and sign up, head over to Updates.

If you’re hungry for more, check out any of our other pieces from The Catch, listen to our latest podcast episode, or flick through our race previews.

For all the latest from us at JRN 👇

Cover image: Fergus Mainland

About The Author

Publisher's Picks

Our Work

Our Partners